Editing New Zealand National Party (section)

===Opposition (1999–2008)===
Shipley continued to lead the National Party until 2001, when [[Bill English]] replaced her. English, however, proved unable to gain traction against Clark, and National suffered its worst-ever electoral defeat in the [[2002 New Zealand general election|2002 election]], gaining only 27 of 120 seats.<ref name="2002 election">{{cite web|title=Official Count Results – Overall Status|url=http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/electionresults_2002/partystatus.html|access-date=7 August 2013|publisher=Electoral Commission}}</ref> Many hoped that English would succeed in rebuilding the party, given time, but a year later polling showed the party performing only slightly better than in the election. In October 2003 English gave way as leader to [[Don Brash]], a former governor of the [[Reserve Bank of New Zealand|Reserve Bank]] who had joined the National Parliamentary caucus in the 2002 election.

Under Brash, the National Party's overall popularity with voters improved markedly. Mostly, however, the party achieved this by "reclaiming" support from electors who voted for other centre-right parties in 2002. National's campaigning on race relations, amid claims of preferential treatment of [[Māori people|Māori]], and amid their opposition to Labour Party policy during the [[New Zealand foreshore and seabed controversy|foreshore-and-seabed controversy]], generated considerable publicity and much controversy.<ref name="Roberts">{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Roberts |first1=Nigel |title=Iwi/kiwi billboard |url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/33891/iwikiwi-billboard |encyclopedia=[[Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand]] |access-date=15 August 2020 |language=en}}</ref> Strong campaigning on a tax-cuts theme in the lead-up to the [[2005 New Zealand general election|2005 election]], together with a consolidation of centre-right support, may have contributed to the National Party's winning 48 out of 121 seats in Parliament. National, however, remained the second-largest party in Parliament (marginally behind Labour, which gained 50 seats), and had fewer options for forming a coalition government. With the formation of a new Labour-dominated Government, National remained the major Opposition party. Before the leadership of John Key, the National Party had made renewed efforts to attract social conservative voters,{{citation needed|date=December 2019}} through adoption of [[anti-abortion]] and anti-[[same-sex marriage]] policies.

In the 2005 general election run up, it was revealed that the [[Exclusive Brethren]], a conservative Christian group, had distributed attack pamphlets critical of the Labour Party and praising of National to letterboxes throughout New Zealand.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10345281|title=Exclusive Brethren trot out new leaflets|last=Cheng|first=Derek Cheng, Derek|date=12 September 2005|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=14 October 2018|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}}</ref> Labour insisted that National had close ties to and prior knowledge of these attacks, which was repeatedly denied by National. It was later admitted by the leader Don Brash that he indeed did have knowledge of the plan, a statement that was contradicted by MP Gerry Brownlee who subsequently denied the National party had any foreknowledge.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10344635|title=Brash knew about Exclusive Brethren pamphlets|date=8 September 2005|work=[[The New Zealand Herald]] |access-date=14 October 2018|language=en-NZ|issn=1170-0777}}</ref>

After the 2005 election defeat Don Brash's leadership of National came under scrutiny from the media, and political watchers speculated on the prospect of a leadership-challenge before the next [[2008 New Zealand general election|general election due in 2008]]. Brash resigned on 23 November 2006, immediately before the release of [[Nicky Hager]]'s book ''[[The Hollow Men (book)|The Hollow Men]]'', which contained damaging revelations obtained from private emails. [[John Key]] became the leader of the National caucus on 27 November 2006. Key fostered a more "centrist" image, discussing issues such as [[child poverty]].{{citation needed|date=December 2019}}